


Sticks And Stones

by decaphage



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Other, Short, That's Not How The Force Works
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:29:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27074251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/decaphage/pseuds/decaphage
Summary: ‘To think! All it took to engage his erotic imagination was a numinous connection to some feral woman on a waste planet.’ Hux thought, with such sincerity and unguarded intensity that Kylo heard it as plainly as if Hux had spoken aloud.
Relationships: Armitage Hux & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Kylo Ren & Rey
Kudos: 2





	Sticks And Stones

**Author's Note:**

> (unfor2nately unbeta'd ;))

“I will not tolerate further distractions, especially not ones steeped in baseless mysticism!” Hux spat, blushing patchily as he marched after Kylo following their audience with Snoke. Not even the potential threat of Snoke’s displeasure would alter the trajectory of his warpath.  
“What?”  
“The girl.”  
Kylo turned on a dime and lifted his gloved hand, a threat. He watched Hux stumble backward, trying to anticipate the crushing, invisible presence of Kylo’s will.  
Nothing happened. Hux drew a ragged breath and relaxed minutely. He would try to be more delicate this time. Kylo could tell he was switching tactics and dropped his hand. Kylo nodded once at Hux, granting him permission to speak. Curious.  
“While I don’t mean to offend, dare I remind you we’ve got a galaxy to conquer? I understand you and the knights are no doubt, uh, onto something with your” he gesticulated vaguely, at a loss for words  
“religious activities…”

Kylo scoffed, his helmet turned the sound into unintelligible buzzing. Hux made an equally frustrated sound in return and clenched his gloved hands.  
“If I may be candid, You’re a red blooded man under that moronic bucket.” Hux huffed, clearly irritated but trying fruitlessly to maintain cold composure. Kylo looked right back at him, unwavering behind his helmet.  
“Don’t patronize me, General.”  
“I wouldn’t dream of it, but I dare say you’ve got more pressing things to attend to than some telepathic softcore!” Hux all but shouted.  
“How dare you. It’s not your place to probe into what you don’t understand.” Kylo said quietly, fury bubbling just below a crust of true shock.  
Hux squared his shoulders and walked briskly down the corridor toward Kylo. There was an uneasy, frenetic energy rolling off him in palpable waves though the force. Hux paused not two paces from Kylo (as if suddenly struck with new inspiration) and smiled a slimy, inauthentic smile. He’d hit a nerve dead on.

“Now now, Ren. I understand far more than you could dare to imagine. And you would do well to face it for what it is.”

_‘To think! All it took to engage his erotic imagination was a numinous connection to some feral woman on a waste planet.’_ Hux thought, with such sincerity and unguarded intensity that Kylo heard it as plainly as if Hux had spoken aloud.  
“THATS NOT... No!” Kylo retorted, scandalized. He stamped his foot petulantly.  
Hux’s face lit up in cruel, unguarded glee  
“I dare say! He doth protest too much!” he exclaimed, not even surprised Kylo had been listening in on his thoughts.

Kylo suddenly went still. He couldn’t think of anything to rebut with. It was humiliating to have someone else lay his desperation so bare. His longing for Rey was muddled, but intense as bloodlust. He’d bared his body to her, pushed his way into her mind. There was a deep satisfaction in that, but he hadn’t really considered anything truly conjugal. He wanted her to accept him, to understand his power. She was about the only person who could meet him where he stood. She could sympathize, he would have made her. The union they shared was far more significant than some piddly romance from Hux’s ancient banned novel collection, or those holos the stormtroopers traded in secret. But Hux was weak with the force, weak in general. He wouldn’t be capable of such nuance. If one party played conqueror, even in romantic conquest, the other party was as good as dead to him.  
Hux laughed to himself, smug as anything.  
Kylo's bond with Rey felt unclean now that Hux had his fingers in it. He was right to be afraid of the vindictive, manipulative streak in his co commander. Hux was petty and unscrupulous and could mould Kylo’s careful, chaste curiosity about intimacy with Rey into another tool calibrated to cause irreparable harm.  
Kylo reached up and unfastened his helmet, releasing a harsh puff of compressed air.  
Hux quit laughing for a moment and a spark of interest crossed his ashen face. He then settled back into a crude expression radiating self satisfaction.  
“I knew you wouldn’t be able to understand something so... delicate.” Kylo spat, as he tried desperately to keep a lid on his hurt and fury, tears welled in his eyes in spite of all his self control.  
“your efficiency and organization can’t hide your appalling lack of sensitivity.”

Hux looked bloodless, his eyes were wide— lips pale.  
“I.. wha—“  
“Haven’t you ever wanted to be close to someone?” Kylo shouted before Hux could finish his sentence.  
Hux pinched his face in disgust  
“Ugh, more sniveling new republican—”  
Kylo lost his temper then and grabbed Hux ferociously about the throat with an invisible grip, asphyxiating him. Hux struggled in spite of himself. The pressure and pain nearly knocked him unconscious. Kylo used the force to impress his feelings upon Hux, flooding him with a cautious affection for Rey, a crippling fear of rejection and his facile, underdeveloped ideas about courtship and intimacy. It was like trying to fill a glass with a regulation fire hose.  
Finally Kylo realized if he didn’t let go soon he might kill Hux. And that would be unacceptable. He let Hux fall to the ground, and allowed him a moment to frantically gasp for breath.  
“I could show you. Show you for hours and you wouldn’t have the capacity to understand. Mock me all you want. If I’m a man, then so are you, general.” Kylo’s words dripped with scorn. He said Hux’s title with the same disdain one might a particularly cruel invective.  
Hux was appalled, he’d never expected such class from a jack booted mystical soldier who was loved too much as a child by his simpering parents.  
Kylo stormed off, and as he did he set his helmet back on his head. Before he was out of Hux’s line of sight he tore a hole in some durasteel paneling with his accursed abilities. Hux lay crumpled in his greatcoat furious (albeit glad he hadn’t soiled himself). Despite his position supine on the ground he was certain he’d managed to get the upper hand. If he could avoid being destroyed by so called mesmerizing forces, he’d pull Kylo Ren apart piece by piece.

**Author's Note:**

> id like to try again but i liked this little tiny chunk so much that i figured id post it for posterity at the very least. i like hux as a mean, petty jerk and that being another expression of his capacity for evillll. also i want this on video shot like the young and the restless.


End file.
